Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
The Investigators, Inc. The Killer Mystery. Chapter 1. Harley Returns.
We barely finished one case and another one began, though this one is a bit of a mystery. Harley, one of the girls who had helped Courtney when she was looking for the murderer of her sister Carmen, showed up mysteriously on our driveway. We found the car she had been driving, sitting in the ditch about 2 km from our chateau. That means she had to walk that distance, which is incredible considering how badly beaten she was. Samantha said she must have used every ounce of strength she had to walk that distance and then collapsed in our driveway. She said it’s amazing she is still alive.
However, she is unconscious, and has been since we found her. Harley’s parents had no compassion for their daughter at all, which really shocked me. Even if Harley had done something wrong, one would think they would be a little concerned about her anyway. Kat had suggested that perhaps Harley changed, but Courtney didn’t believe that and she had lived with Harley and Shirley for several months. I tried calling Harley’s parents again and this time her father answered the phone. Unfortunately he was not very nice and threatened to call the police if I didn’t leave them alone.
So I used this against him too, and threatened to have him arrested for beating his daughter to near the point of death. He was silent for a moment, then said he only hit Harley once. But, I told him that the police would believe the evidence of seeing the condition of his daughter over what he said. That seemed to calm him down a bit and I then explained who we were and that we wanted to find who had done this to Harley, even if our investigation led to him. He then told us about a man that had come to their home who said that Harley owed him 300,000 pounds because she broke her contract with him.
The contract was for working in his escort business for five years, plus posing for a certain number of photos each month. If she neglected to fulfill her obligations, then she had to pay him that money. However, she ran away and hid from him for over a year and he just finally found her again. Since she could not pay the man, then her father told her to go back and finish working for him. She claimed that she never did work for him and he was just trying to kidnap her.
But, he had the signed contract and photos of her with his escort business and his online porn site, which he showed him and his wife. So this proved she was lying and that’s when they had their argument and he hit her. Then the man took her away with him. I told Harley’s father that all of that can be done falsely and made to look very real. All they would need is to find her signature somewhere and copy it onto the contract, and with AI today it’s easy to make fake photos.
He gave me the man’s name as Norman Wellhouse and his escort business is called ManWell Escorts. But the owner/manager of the escort business is a woman named Delena Donnelly, which is interesting. Cristy is busy checking on these people while I talked with Aari about this case that has come our way. Aari said this is not an unusual way for people like Wellhouse to trap young women into working for them. He thinks it is most likely that Wellhouse, or one of his men, beat Harley and not her father, though we can only prove that when Harley regains consciousness so that we can talk with her.
The police told us the car Harley had been driving was stolen in the city, so that means these people might be in the city right now. The police won’t be charging Harley with anything right now until we can complete our investigation. I thanked them for that, and I told them if Harley is guilty of any crime, then we will hand her over to the them. There is no office for ManWell Escorts in the city, but we did find out that Norman Wellhouse and associates are staying at one of the finest hotels.
I decided to send Aari and the Black Wolves to have a talk with Wellhouse and I’m sending Kristina and Sky along as well. That will give him 3 ghosts for protection, plus I am sending Kat and her Wildcats as backup too. While talking with Harley’s father I had Celestine and Galyna listen in too so that I can get their opinion about him. Celestine said she doesn’t trust him, though part of what he said is likely true. She didn’t think he liked his daughter for whatever reason. Galyna agreed that he had something against Harley and she didn’t think he was telling everything he knows about this Norman Wellhouse.
Hmm, perhaps that means he is afraid of Norman Wellhouse or maybe he is involved with him in some way. Trixie is going to check on Harley’s parents to see if they are hiding something, like a large debt of some kind that Harley was paying off by working for Wellhouse. Henry, Harley’s father, better not be doing something like that or he will find out it was not a good idea. While in my office with Jennifer, Misty showed up saluting me.
“Misty reporting for duty, super, top, fantastic, best leader in the whole world!” she said with total seriousness. “Misty, stop saluting please,” said Jennifer. “Oops, sorry, forgot again,” she said and quickly lowered her hand. “And Misty, you overdid it just a bit with your compliments for Steve,” she said again. “Really?” both Misty and I questioned at the same time. Jennifer sighed very loudly. “I actually removed 4 more compliments, thinking I might be overdoing it,” said Misty. “See, she cut back,” I said. Jennifer sighed even louder that time. Very strange.
Meanwhile, Aari, Carine, Kristina, Bear and Joseph went into the hotel restaurant where Norman Wellhouse and 6 men were having dinner. Sky also went in, but invisible. Joseph is a new man from Mandar and is next in size to Bear. “Mr. Wellhouse, my name is Aari Jensen,” he began, “I would like to talk with you for a few minutes.” “We’re eating and I don’t know you and there is no room at our table,” he answered, “now leave us alone.”
Bear and Joseph then picked up two men sitting next to each other and right next to Wellhouse, and moved them to another table, then took their food to them while Aari and Carine sat down. “Well, now there’s room, I introduced myself so now you know me,” said Aari quite seriously, “now we can talk.” “We have nothing to talk about,” said an angry Wellhouse, “now leave or I call the manager.” “How about a little matter of Harley Corner?” asked Aari, “She’s the woman you nearly beat to death. But instead of talking I could just tell one of my men to beat you the same way. And if your men pull out their guns, you will die immediately. Now we have your attention, I see.”
To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 
Who wants to destroy Steve and the Investigators? Harley was not gone long when she was beaten to near death. How does this connect to the Investigators? Harley’s parents are not sympathetic characters and speaks to what their livelihood may be. Still think that Harley is being used as bait for some enemy to attack Steve and his friends. You would never turn away a damsel in distress. Good to see you have some discerners checking out Harley’s father.
Norman Wellhouse might have met his comeuppance when he met Aari and the Black Wolves, with Kat and her Wildcats.
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